1.04 Burn the Negatives

A/N: Before there were digital cameras, there was this thing called film. Strap into your time machines, it's time for a Rookie Blue flashback.

The Murder House

Andy and Luke had just come from a meeting with Detective Boyd and Sargent Boyko. They met up at a movie theater playing old foreign films.

Andy thought it was all a little too cloak and dagger, and blown entirely out of proportion, for what had occurred after FITE NITE. Really? Clandestine meetings with Homicide, Guns and Gangs, and the Sarge over what may be some petty criminal? It seemed absurd. But what did she know? Andy was new to this kind of thing. Maybe this is how 15 Division conducted undercover assignments, if you could even call it that.

Detective Boyd liked to call them covert operations. Andy thought maybe Boyd had been under too long and had watched one too many spy movies. But then again, she didn't know him before. Maybe he was always this way.

Boyko, Callaghan, and Boyd had settled on an approach to deal with her situation earlier that day and were using the meet to inform her of their plan. They didn't have any leads on who may have approached her and threatened her father. The case Callaghan had been working on had seemed like an open and shut gang shooting. They even had the shooter in custody. They decided they needed to learn more. Andy was supposed to look like she was capitulating to the threats in hopes that she would be approached again.

The whole meeting had brought Andy's worries crashing back. This didn't seem right. Andy was worried they were holding something back because she was a rookie. She really should have told Swarek about this first. Sam would know if this was really as crazy as Andy thought it was. When Andy put forward the idea of bringing Swarek into this, pointing out that he was her training officer and would be spending a lot of time with her and would be more likely to see suspicious activity, Boyko shut her down and ordered her not to inform him. Boyko's eye was twitching as he said it and Andy wondered if it was because the Sarge was still peeved over the Sam's loss at FITE NITE.

So now Andy was strolling arm in arm with Luke Callaghan down a street right out of a Norman Rockwell painting talking about double homicides and pretending to start a romantic relationship. Andy was grateful to Luke for not using this as an opportunity to try to make a move. Instead Luke kept it professional by talking to her about his case, a crime of passion, and some of the best ways to approach suspects to get a confession.

When a man in a hoodie crossed their path, Luke moved in for a kiss to make it look real. All the while, Andy was thinking about how she was going to convince Traci on the way to work in the morning that she'd had a romantic evening with Homicide Luke, when all they had talked about was death, without outright lying. Maybe if she threw the word 'weird' into the conversation.

Tommy NcNally's Apartment

Andy was pounding on her father's door. She hoped he was home and sober. He usually eased off the booze for a little bit when they had a major blow up. It never lasted, but Andy hoped she wouldn't have to deal with that this morning.

Andy's shift was starting later than usual because there were plans for an undercover operation today, her first. Well her first official one. Andy needed to pick up some attire that could pass for a hooker. She hoped she could find something workable in the stuff her Dad stored for her.

When the door swung open, Andy and her father exchanged a few words but nothing too serious. Andy wasn't going to talk to him about the man that approached her, not until she knew more or she had no other choice. As Andy made her way back to the closet that they used for storage, she told him about the operation planned for today.

Spotting the box she needed, Andy started clearing everything else out of the way. Andy was just putting aside a carton when she noticed that it was labeled with masking tape and a dark scrawl that said 'Fresh Paint'. Andy remembered what Shaw had said about rookies being fresh paint and asked her father about it.

Tommy McNally chuckled, took the box from Andy, and started digging through it. When he found what he was looking for, he handed a stack of pictures to his daughter.

She flipped through images that she never in a million years would have expected to exist. The Sam Swarek she knew would have destroyed the evidence. Andy asked "What is this?"

"The first time your training officers went undercover when they were rookies." her father answered.

{Flashback – 10 years ago give or take}

15 Division - Locker Rooms

This was the first time Sam Swarek had ever been inside the women's locker room. He really didn't want to be there, not under these circumstances. Noelle Williams was looking way too happy about this as far as Sam was concerned. It did not bode well for him, not well at all. Sam was considering making a run for it. Noelle was quick, but if he surprised her, she probably wouldn't be able to tackle him before he made good his escape.

Noelle was rifling through her overnight bag and finally found what she was looking for. She pulled out a CD, removed it from the case and slipped it into the player. It was cliché. Noelle would admit to that, but it was also obligatory. Noelle pressed play.

{'Pretty Woman' by Roy Orbison began to play}

Really, what else would you listen to when transforming the epitome of young, virile, masculine copper into a transgender hooker? Rowr.

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Jerry Barber shoved his way into the men's locker room wrestling with a large cardboard box. Frank Best and Oliver Shaw knew they were in trouble. Jerry was way too excited about idea of going undercover.

What was worse, he had brought props from home. Since they all had gone to academy together, Frank and Oliver had a pretty good idea of the kinds of props that Jerry had readily available, at all times. They also knew that Jerry had enough of them to share.

Since the training officers had gotten it into their heads that they were going to have to audition for their undercover assignments, they were going to be forced to share. Where Jerry's costumes had been didn't bear thinking about. Frank and Oliver sincerely hoped Jerry had taken them to a dry cleaner before bringing them into Division.

The only thing that made Frank and Oliver feel better about their predicament was the realization that at least they weren't Sam Swarek. The TO's had assigned Sam's cover as well as Noelle's. The five of them had spent the better part of last night, at their usual table at the Penny, drinking and trying to figure out what Sam had done to deserve it. The poor bastard.

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Sam was bent over the sink. Noelle was making him shave again. She had said something about his five o'clock shadow showing up a three and if he didn't shave he would be trying to entice Johns with a full beard by the time the operation started.

Outside the washroom, he could hear the low murmur of voices. It was usually followed by the closing of the locker room door. Noelle must have been convincing the other officers to give them some privacy. Sam was grateful but also worried. Sam was wondering what bargains Noelle could possibly make to get coppers to walk away from such entertainment and how it involved him.

Sam also knew that he was losing an ally in his fight for retaining his dignity. The rookies all had a particular approach to life. Solidarity and support against all comers in every circumstance, even the ludicrous ones, was the rule. But leave them alone together and anything was fair game. The loss of the audience gave Noelle free rein to speak her mind and Sam knew that Noelle's mind was a sharp and devilish thing.

In the mirror Sam saw Noelle enter the washroom; in her hand he saw a flash of silver. Sam whirled and put his hands up in a defensive posture, "What is that?"

"Tweezers" Noelle said with her most ominous smile, slowly moving forward.

"What are they for?" Sam asked, not quite getting it yet. Not wanting to, really.

"Grooming" Noelle responded.

The light dawned and Sam panicked, "No. No, you stay away from me with those things. I shaved my legs. I shaved under my arms. I even shaved my chest because you told me I had too. I did it even though I told you that I shouldn't be exposing that much skin. So you cannot. You will not pluck anything of mine."

But Noelle had always been the fastest of the five of them at take-downs. As Sam was getting his eyebrows thinned he took solace that at least Jerry, Oliver, and Frank weren't there to witness it.

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15 Division had so many male rookies this year that they had decided to expand the operation from the usual John sweep to include making some prostitution arrests. One of the rookies was going to be assigned to act as a John.

Jerry didn't think that he'd be the right choice. Putting on his aviator glasses to complete his look, Jerry thought he'd done too good a job of creating his cover. Jerry's cover story was going to be lonely movie star, filming on location in Canada, wanting a no complications hookup or an arrest to get some publicity. He hadn't exactly nailed that part down yet. But the end result was that he didn't think that women would be asking him to pay. That would make it hard to make an arrest for solicitation.

Oliver thought the cover that would nab the most collars was successful business man. So Oliver dressed up in a suit and tie. What Oliver didn't realize was how very young he looked. Oliver looked like he was headed off to church. That made sense since that was the purpose of the only suit he owned.

Frank refused to change out of his civilian clothes. Oliver and Jerry weren't sure why he wasn't making an effort. They thought Frank would prefer to go undercover as the John. But Frank had been surly ever since they'd been told about this undercover operation so they hadn't asked him.

Tommy McNally ducked his head into the locker room to see what progress the rookies were making. He took a few pictures, explaining that they would be used to evaluate what the best fit for the cover assignments would be. As he left the room, he ordered the rookies to change into their next cover identity.

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Noelle had changed into her get up, hooker with a heart of gold as Jerry had dubbed it, before ever starting Sam's make over. Now she stood, covered in a coat to maintain her modesty, digging through the clothes she had brought in for Sam to wear.

Sam was stealing glances into the bag like it might be full of snakes.

Noelle had already pulled out a bra and inserts. This had led to an argument about how large Sam's breasts would be. Then Sam had been felled, briefly, by the dawning realization that this might explain the few times in the past when a woman's breast size had changed once he got her out of her clothes. Not that he was shallow. He was always happy to have a woman out of her clothes. But it had always made him question his powers of observation which was a fundamental skill for a cop.

Next out was a black leather mini skirt. Sam made a valiant, if stupid, attempt to argue that he could pull off acting like a woman in pants. Sam lost that argument too.

Then Noelle pulled out two flimsy pieces of material, one black and one tan. Noelle made Sam pick which one he liked best. The tan one had a seam on the back which he'd always liked on a woman. His sister Sarah had always called it a 40's glam look. It made Sam think about where that seam went. On second thought, Sam picked the fishnet stockings.

The last items Noelle pulled free of the bag were two halter tops, one yellow and one leopard print. It finally dawned on Sam, by the look on Noelle's face, that she had been subtly turning the screws on him by forcing him to choose all his own attire. He pointed at the leopard print.

Noelle made a move to leave the locker room, to allow Sam to dress, but before leaving she asked "Do you need any help figuring out how to put all that on?"

Sam replied, with all the dignity he could muster, "I've gotten plenty of women out of their clothes. I'm sure I'll have no problem getting into them..." Sam paused as his own words registered in his mind, "I didn't mean..." Noelle could hear the thwack of Sam's head hitting the locker repeatedly as she left the room.

Noelle had been standing against the locker room door for about fifteen minutes waiting for Sam to finishing dressing. She was starting to get worried. Sam responded to all her queries on whether he needed help with grunts. Maybe he had given himself brain damage. She saw McNally leaving the guys locker room and flagged him down.

Tommy McNally entered the women's locker room and came to a sudden stop at the sight in front of him. Sam Swarek was hopping around trying to pull up his pantyhose. When that didn't' work, he lied down on the bench and stuck his legs in the air to try to get leverage from another angle. Tommy snapped a few candid pictures before he gave Sam some advice, "You need to take off the skirt and put on the pantyhose first, son."

Sam was so startled, he rolled off the bench. As he lay face down on the ground, he had two thoughts, 'how does McNally know that' and 'at least it wasn't Charlie.'

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Jerry was finally getting the chance to use his costumes again. They had been in storage since they graduated from the Police Academy. Back at the Academy they used to have these killer cops and robbers parties. Jerry always came dressed as a criminal. He used it an excuse to bring a couple of hot girls dressed in skimpy clothes to the party with him and if the dates didn't work out it always left him open to the possibility of being tackled by a sexy cop.

Jerry had amassed a wide variety of pimp costumes over the years.

Jerry was having a tough time deciding on his character. He definitely wanted to go with something flamboyant. He was thinking a retro 70's pimp look. But he had so many options to choose from. Should he go with the gold cape or the fur coat? Should he wear scarves, bandannas, or a fedora? Jerry finally settled on a leopard print fur coat and a large yellow hat. Thinking back to his talk his Noelle the night before, he thought it would be funny that either way he'd match Sam.

Oliver suited up in some basketball attire. Shaw was hoping to get to play the part of the pimp. It was a support role on the operation. He'd get to be back up for the other rookies and then make the arrest. As he dug through Jerry's collection of hats, selecting a large black one, he hoped that the training officers had seen the same movie that he had. Oliver figured that being able to play pimp or male madam would double his chances of being selected for this cover.

Frank decided to actually change for this one which surprised both Oliver and Jerry. Frank kept his jeans on, but swapped out his shirt for a black muscle shirt, and then tied a black bandanna around his head. Frank refused to come up with a cover story, arguing that it wasn't needed. So Jerry did it for him. Frank had dreams of becoming a famous rapper or so he was told.

While Jerry was spinning tales, Oliver heard a muffled "Come on, I'll pay you" from outside the door. Moments later, the door opened again and McNally came in. This time Tommy leaned back against the door. It was jostled a few times as McNally took his pictures.

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Sam finally called to Noelle that he was dressed. Noelle made a valiant attempt not to laugh. She failed, but Sam appreciated the effort. Noelle directed Sam to sit. It was time for hair and make-up.

First Noelle applied some foundation and face powder. When she had evened out Sam's complexion, she told Sam to close his eyes so she could apply the eye make-up. Noelle kept Sam apprised of exactly what she was doing as she did it, which drove Sam to snap, "Stop. Stop explaining this to me. Do you think I want to know for the rest of my life how to repeat this experience?"

Noelle continued in silence, applying eye shadow and eye liner. But when she got to the mascara she couldn't help herself and told Sam "It's really not fair that your eyelashes are longer and fuller than mine."

Sam didn't rise to the bait, but Noelle was OK with that. She was trying to see if she could get Sam to blush. Noelle always liked a game she knew could win. She had a blush brush in her hand so she knew she'd win this one.

When it came time for the lipstick, Noelle handed Sam the tube. She made an excuse that it was hard to get the right angle so Sam needed to apply the lipstick himself. That was really just so Noelle could snap a picture while Sam wasn't paying attention.

Next they had what Noelle still refers to as 'the great hair gel debate'. Sam's position was that he would look best if they used a little gel to slick his hair back to make it a short sleek style. Noelle countered that they needed to use a long wig to disguise his massive shoulders. Sam eventually capitulated. But to this day Noelle is convinced that this is why all of Sam's undercover personas wear hair gel.

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Jerry was the only one to dress up as a male prostitute. He put on a deep mauve silk shirt. Leaving the top couple buttons undone, he paired the shirt with white pants, white shoes, and a flashy crystal encrusted belt. He was kind of disappointed that Oliver and Frank weren't putting as much effort into their undercover operation as he was.

Frank had refused to change out of his pimp gear. Frank had settled on which part he wanted to play in this operation and he wasn't going to explain why, to anyone.

Oliver on the other hand had changed back to his civilian clothes. When McNally had left the locker room last time, it finally clicked into place that Tommy was taking pictures. That was bad. That was very bad. Oliver thought maybe, just maybe, since Frank hadn't gotten reamed for wearing his civilian clothes earlier that he could do the same. Maybe they would think that Oliver didn't know how a male prostitute might dress. Whatever they thought at least there would be no more evidence left behind.

When Tommy McNally came into the room to snap pictures this time, he laughed a little, kind of proud that it was his rookie who caught onto what they were up to first.

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"Why do women wear these?" Sam muttered as he lost his balance on the high heels again.

Noelle was making him walk from one end of the locker room to the other and back again while she critiqued him. She had countered his argument that they were just planning to stand on a street corner with the possibility that he might need to chase down a suspect, so he was practicing walking, grudgingly.

Sam took a precarious step and as he did his heel snapped. Sam shifted so he'd fall into the wall instead of the floor. But he knew that wasn't going to save him from this torture. Sam banged his head against the wall a little and groaned before pushing away to limp the small distance to where Noelle held up a ridiculous looking pair of high heeled black leather boots. She brought two of everything.

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Tommy McNally entered the men's locker room one last time. This time the rest of the training officers were right behind him. Nothing was going to keep them out. McNally barked out the undercover assignments, "Shaw, go change, you're the John, Best pimp, and Jerry male prostitute. Be in Parade in five."

As Oliver grabbed his suit to go change clothes, he heard Charlie laughingly say "Its days like this that I love my job. Let's go see Samantha."

Parade

Jerry sauntered into Parade for the briefing. He was pretty impressed with how good he was proving to be at undercover. He saw Noelle across the room studying the operational plan. She was still wearing her jacket and was next to another woman who was bent over looking at a map.

That woman had a very fine ass in a very short skirt. Jerry thought they must have pulled in some additional rookies from 17 Division to help with the sweep. Barber decided to make his move and get her to agree to celebratory drinks with him after the operation was done. He sidled up behind her about to make his move when an undoubtedly masculine voice said "Jerry if you grab my ass you won't live to see another day."

Oliver, Frank, and Noelle had been watching Jerry and recognized what he was doing. They silently cursed the eyes in the back of Swarek's head for cutting off their entertainment so quickly. But only for a moment, because then the rookies lost it. Noelle was now leaning over the table, tears streaming out of her eyes, slamming her fist on the table. Oliver and Frank were in the back of the room, bent over, laughing so hard that they couldn't breathe.

Barber's face had turned the color of his shirt. 'How do you forget that Sam Swarek was going undercover as a woman?' he asked himself. But Jerry had spun so many tales about Johns and pimps and male prostitutes that he had forgotten. No one was ever going to believe it and no one was ever going to let him forget it.

That was how the rookie's first rule of undercover had been born 'keep it simple'.

{Flashback ends}

Tommy NcNally's Apartment

Andy shuffled through the pictures, stopped at one of Sam and asked "Why?" There were a lot of questions tumbling through her mind, but that was the only one that came out.

Tommy answered, "We could tell right away that Swarek was built for undercover. Charlie and I, we decided to throw everything we had at him. See how much he could take."

Andy, sympathizing with the younger Swarek, said "They must have been merciless." thinking about how she and her own class of rookies related to one another.

"Nah." Tommy answered, "We evened things up a bit. We let Sam decide what undercover assignments the other rookies would get. It all played out the way Swarek thought it would. Prostitutes are wary of entrapment and avoid setting a price. Sam figured that Shaw would make them want to take care of him, draw him out. Barber was the only one with enough swagger to play the male prostitute. And Best was going to be a problem either way so Sam figured we might as well put him where there was more than one cop trying to bring in the Johns."

"And making as many arrests as Sam did, especially under those circumstances, does a lot to level the field. Only Shaw had anywhere close to the number of arrests that Swarek did." Tommy didn't add that it's wasn't really Frank's snarling at everyone who looked at Noelle sideways that had Johns picking Swarek over Williams. The hooker with a heart of gold was a cover that didn't really work below underpasses. But that wasn't something you told your daughter. Andy would find out later that it was something Peck siblings talked about.

Andy's attention was diverted by a honking horn. Traci had arrived to pick her up and drive her into work. Andy grabbed a handful of clothes in a rush. As she was on her way out, the pictures still in one hand, her father called out "Swarek's got good instincts. If you listen to him, everything will be fine. Be safe"

15 Division

Frank, Oliver and Noelle were staring down the hall at the women's locker room when Jerry came up behind them. "What's up?" he asked.

"Annual John sweep." Oliver answered.

"It's times like this when I love my job. Fill me in, what have I missed." Jerry asked.

"Swarek" all three officers answered.

Jerry looked down the hall and asked "What the hell? Is he still doing that? Jeez, Noelle. What did you do to him?" Jerry was watching Sam pace in front of the women's locker room and referring to the fact that he was doing it with a slight arc. It's something Sam had started doing when they were rookies. It was subtle and they never talked about it to outsiders but every time Sam passed the women's locker room he shifted slightly away from it.

"I think he's working up the nerve to go in" Noelle said.

"No way, he hasn't been in there in ten years." Frank responded.

"But now the person Swarek most wants to talk to is inside the one place that scares him, hence the pacing." Oliver added.

"Who?" Jerry asked.

"Andy McNally." Noelle answered and Oliver added, "Did you see him in briefing? Sam looked directly at McNally like no one else was in the room and told her not to let anyone touch her."

That brought Jerry up short. If they were sending the rookies undercover as hookers, that meant Traci Nash was going with them. Jerry abruptly left the others. He had to talk to Sam.

Halting Sam mid-pace, Jerry pleaded, "You've got to go in there man. Tell Nash homicide needs a rookie to stay behind and work with them. You've got to do this for me. I would do it but Nash hasn't forgiven me for the Beljac thing yet."

That was the little push Sam needed. Sam psyched himself up like nothing was wrong, knocked on the door, and went in. "Nash, I got a request from the D's. They want a rookie to help with a murder investigation." Sam explained.

Traci questioned if they had asked for her and Sam panicked. This place did that to him. While covering for Jerry, Sam accidentally offered McNally an opportunity to spend all day with Callaghan. What was wrong with him?

When McNally turned him down and Nash left, Sam was nearly giddy with relief. Suddenly, alone with McNally, a woman's locker room wasn't such a bad place to be. Sam started poking around in her locker to see what kind of secrets she had in there and who she had pictures of. He completely failed to convince Andy that his interest was impersonal when he said, referring to those pictures "Magnetic huh. That's cool. Good idea."

Deciding retreat might be best, Sam backed out of the room leaving a final bit of wisdom "I like the leopard print one."

Remembering the pictures, Andy decided it might be best to wear the green.

A/N This episode ended on a downer (several of them actually) so the following had to be left on the cutting room floor because I couldn't make them fit.

Deleted Scene 1

The Black Penny

Andy had given the pictures of their training officers to Traci on the way to work that morning. Now Traci had spread them across their usual table at the Penny. Chris was looking at them in shock. Chris asked Andy what Traci had asked her earlier, "There are no pictures of Swarek or Williams?"

Andy shook her head no. The pictures of Swarek were never going to see the light of day again. The only pictures she had seen of Williams were with Sam, so those would never be seen again either. Andy figured it was up to Traci to decide how many people saw the pictures of Barber. As for Best and Shaw, they had tormented Chris pretty thoroughly today so she wasn't against him seeing that he wasn't the only rookie made to suffer in the history of 15 Division.

As she reflected on the day, Andy noticed something about the pictures.

"Diaz. Where did you get your clothes for the undercover operation?" Andy asked.

"Guns and Gangs have a closet where officers can get clothes and props for undercover assignments." Chris responded.

Andy pointed to two pictures and asked, "Doesn't that black shirt Officer Best is wearing look like the one you were wearing today? And the white pants and the belt, aren't those the same as the ones Detective Barber is wearing?"

Traci started laughing hysterically. When she caught her breath, she leaned over and whispered something to Chris.

Chris shot out of his seat and nearly ran out of the bar. He ran right into Dov as he was coming in. They exchanged a few words and then Chris was gone.

When Dov approached the rookie's table, he asked "What is with Chris? He ran out of here like his pants were on fire."

Traci answered, "I told him that Jerry sometimes goes commando."

Andy and Traci collapsed into laughter.

Deleted Scene 2

15 Division

Oliver, Frank, and Sam were in the men's locker room packing up after a long day.

Oliver was clearing away the junk in the bottom of his locker. He grabbed a box marked 'fresh paint' and tossed in some photos he had printed of Diaz, Peck, and McNally undercover. "Damn it. McNally. She's Tommy's kid." Oliver exclaimed.

Oliver had just remembered who he'd gotten the idea of keeping mementos of his rookies from. He dashed out of the room, intending to find a phone and plead with his former training officer not to share any memories with his current rookie.

When Oliver left, Sam took the opportunity to surreptitiously snag the picture of McNally from the box. He tucked it into his wallet.

Frank didn't notice. As he did most nights, lately, he was looking at a picture of Noelle. He kept it tucked in his own wallet so it was somewhat ragged around the edges. Frank had snatched it from Tommy McNally's box about a decade ago.